Club Destiny 1 Conviction (30 page)

Logan didn’t know whether to be
relieved or concerned. Instead of attempting a rebuttal, no sense denying it
anyway, he sat patiently, waiting for Xavier to continue.

“If you ask me, it’s about damn
time.”

Xavier Thomas was as straight
forward as they came. Logan respected the older man for that. Having worked for
Xavier for the last decade, Logan had gotten to know Xavier, as did most of his
employees. The man treated his staff like family, and Logan and Alex had both
been invited to more than one family dinner.

Sitting before him now, Logan
realized that no matter how much he didn’t want to share the details of the
situation with Xavier, he didn’t have the heart to lie to the man.

“We’ve been on a couple of
dates.” Logan confirmed. “I don’t know that it’s serious yet or not, but I
assure you it doesn’t affect either of our jobs.”

“No?” Xavier questioned. “Then
why is it that my vice president of project operations ran out of the building
today? Crying?”

Shit
.

Logan wasn’t sure if Xavier had
actually seen the incident or if he’d gotten wind of it from someone else.
Either way, he needed to smooth the waters. Sam didn’t need this type of
exposure within the company. Especially being so new to the Dallas office.

 “It was a small
misunderstanding, and I plan to resolve the situation as soon as I can.”

“Boy, why are you still here? If you
want to rectify the situation, you wouldn’t be sitting in here with me.”

Logan knew the comment was
rhetorical. This conversation had ventured into the personal side of things.
When it came to business, Xavier wouldn’t tolerate something as trivial as this
to interrupt his daily operations. But, the man also had a heart bigger than
the state of Texas and he didn’t think business all the time. Still, Logan
wasn’t comfortable responding.

“Logan,” Xavier started, turning
back to his desk, “son, I’m not going to interfere in your life. I expect
you’ll come to me if it gets to the point that you need help in making a
decision.”

Logan heard the concern. He
waited for the other man to continue, watching as he once again resumed his
seat behind the desk. When he didn’t, Logan responded.

“Yes, sir. I wouldn’t let that
happen.” Logan assured him.

“I know you wouldn’t. This needs
to stay as quiet as possible. I happened to get word of it from Angelica.
Apparently she and Heather got together and managed to squeeze some information
out of some of the project managers. I’m disappointed in the way Heather
handled this, but she must still have feelings for you. I just don’t want this
to become a big deal. We have things to do and the less hiccups in the process,
the better.”

“I completely agree.” Logan
leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, applying pressure as though
trying to force himself to think. “I need to go talk to Sam. I don’t want this
misunderstanding to come between her and her job. She’s the best damn project
manager this company has ever seen, and I need to make sure that, on a
professional level, she’s secure.”

“Damn boy. You sure do like to
lie to yourself. You need to go after her because of yourself.” Xavier
retorted, catching Logan’s attention again. “Sam doesn’t have anything to worry
about regarding her job. We’ll address that when the situation arises. For now,
you need to get your ass up and go talk to her. I expect tomorrow won’t have
any disruptions, and we’ll be back to business as usual.”

“Yes, sir.” Logan stood from his
seat and stared back at Xavier. He knew that if he had been at any other
company, with any other boss, this would be an entirely different conversation.
“Thank you.”

“Go on. I’ll talk to you
tomorrow.” Xavier commanded, waving him off with a hand.

Logan turned and headed out. It
was clear that Xavier could see right through him, and Logan knew it was
ultimately time he admit his feelings for Sam before he lost her.

The thought of that had his heart
plummeting to his stomach.

~~  ** 
~~  **  ~~  **  ~~

Sam awoke feeling groggy and
disoriented. Her eyes were gritty, like she’d poured sand in them before she’d
drifted off into a restless sleep. Wondering how puffy and swollen they were,
she managed to crawl out of bed and into the bathroom. Definitely not good. She
looked terrible, and she felt just as bad. The image reflecting back at her
reminded her of the events from that morning.

Glancing at the clock, she
realized she’d been asleep for the better part of the day. It was already six
and she’d accomplished nothing. Splashing cold water on her face, hoping to
reduce some of the swelling, Sam inhaled deeply, telling herself it was time to
move on. She needed to make a sandwich, maybe take a long bath before she
tumbled back into bed. Unsure how she would face the next day, the only
solution was to sleep until Logan McCoy didn’t matter anymore.

Maybe she should consider asking
for her job in San Antonio back. If Logan and Heather were to get together, Sam
knew there was no way she could suffer through that day in and day out.
Although Sam and Logan hadn’t known each other long, the feelings she had for
him ran deep. That meant the scars would be even more jagged and painful.

Before she went in search of food,
she changed out of her now wrinkled slacks and silk shirt. They’d both have to
go to the dry cleaners now. Feeling minimally better in her fleece pajama
shorts and tank top, she went in search of food.

Her cell phone caught her
attention as she passed the bar on her way to the kitchen. She knew she should
check to make sure everything was alright at work, but she didn’t have the
energy to do it. Everything would be there for her in the morning.

“Ugghh!” Sam couldn’t hold back
the groan as she thought about having to go into the office.

Could she take some vacation
time? She’d surely accrued enough time over the years. Possibly a trip to San
Antonio to see her parents.

Oh, who was she kidding? She
couldn’t afford to take any time off and going to stay with her parents
wouldn’t be a vacation anyway. Her mother would just smother her with affection
and constantly ask her if she was ok.

Remembering she had a critical
project in the works, deadlines looming in the very near future, she shrugged
off the idea. No matter how hard this would be she couldn’t take any time off
right now. And seeing Logan was going to be hell.

And after today, Sam might not
have a job anyway. She’d let her feelings shine like a flashing beacon for the
entire world to see when she ran out of the office, unable to hold back the
tears.

Stumbling upon Logan’s
conversation with Deanna had derailed her entire day, possibly her entire life.
Oh how she wished she had gone to get coffee or something. Anything to avoid
having to hear how he had gone to dinner with Heather. The wounds were still
raw as Sam felt her stomach tighten into knots.

So much for dinner.

Instead, she opted for a glass of
Diet Dr. Pepper and managed to drag her weary body back to her bedroom.

“That’s tomorrow. Today is
today.” Sam reminded herself as she flopped backward on the bed. She glanced
over at her personal laptop sitting on her nightstand and then back at the
ceiling. What in the world could she do to take her mind off of Logan? At this
point, she was game for almost anything.

Erotic images of the night she
spent with Logan slammed against her closed eyelids. The way he kissed her, the
underlying tension between them that caused the air to crackle with the energy
that burned around them.

He had been good at deceiving her
- that was for damn sure. The way he looked at her, the way he touched her, the
way he kissed her – God how he kissed her – he always made her feel like she
was his sole focus. As though she made his blood pump faster, his heart beat
harder, the same way he affected her. Sam didn’t know how it could go from
earth shattering lust to nothing so quickly.

She closed her eyes for a moment
in an attempt to fight back the tears threatening to fall. Her heart squeezed
in her chest with the loss that she felt; leaving her to wonder how the pain
could be so deep that it was a physical ache. This was definitely worse than
anything she had expected. The devastation she felt when she walked in on Nick
felt like nothing compared to this.

“God, please just make the pain
go away, please.” She whispered to herself in the quiet room.

There had to be a way to push
away the pain and log only the good times in her memories to carry her forward.
It wasn’t like they had even admitted they loved each other. In a week, she
knew it would all be behind her, but for tonight, it was pure agony.

~*~*~

Logan entered Sam’s apartment
after knocking several times without an answer. Checking the doorknob had been
a last ditch attempt, surprising him when the knob turned, and the door opened.
He’d seen her lock the door every time he’d been allowed in, so he was a little
shocked.

The only light in the darkened
apartment seemed to be coming from the bedroom. The soft sliver of yellow light
cast a shadow in the short hallway, luring him in that direction. Wondering
whether he should announce his presence or giving himself a chance to assess
the situation, Logan opted for the latter. Making as little noise as possible
so as not to startle her, he crept the short distance to her bedroom.

What he saw when he approached
her doorway tore at his heart, threatening to wrench it from his chest. Sam was
lying on her bed, one arm flung across her eyes, silent, devastating sobs
heaving her chest. She was whispering something he could barely make out.

“Just make the pain go away,
please.”

The ache in his chest felt more
like a knife wound, the blade still inserted deep, being twisted back and
forth.

“Sam.” The whispered word that
came from his mouth was more of a plea.

Her body jackknifed on the bed, a
startled shudder running through her, but she didn’t scream as he’d expected.
Then the sheer agony was replaced with a look of total revulsion and Logan was
almost propelled backward with its intensity.

“What do you want?” Furiously
wiping the tears streaking her face, Sam glared at him, but she didn’t move.

Logan’s throat constricted,
unable to speak as he stood helplessly in the doorway, seeing the woman he
loved hurting. Taking one step forward, then another, he slowly closed the gap
between them, wanting only to touch her, to hold her. When he would have put
his hands on her arms, Sam jerked back from him, the determination in those
translucent green eyes boring into him.

“Don’t touch me. How did you get
in here?”

Propelling herself off the bed in
one graceful move, Sam pushed past him, going to the living room, leaving him
standing in her bedroom feeling the fury she left in her wake.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood
there, staring at her bed, noting the rumpled comforter that hadn’t been pulled
down and the pillows tossed to the floor. Realizing she’d deserted him, Logan
followed the sounds of cabinet doors being slammed shut, finding Sam in the
kitchen, looking for something.

“Sam. Talk to me for a minute.”
Somehow he’d managed to find his voice, though it didn’t sound like him at all.

“I don’t want to talk to you,
Logan. If I did, I would have called.”

She hadn’t called, he knew that
much. And neither had she answered her phone when he’d made several attempts to
speak to her throughout the day.

“Samantha, I need to talk to
you.” Using her full name, Logan inserted some urgency in his tone. At this
rate, she wasn’t going to listen to a damn thing he had to say. “I need to
explain what you heard today.”

“Explain? Do you think I’m dumb
enough that I didn’t understand?” Sam retorted, slamming another cabinet door.
“You don’t owe me anything, Logan. I just need you to leave me the hell alone.”

She stalked into the living room,
flipping on a small lamp sitting on the side table by the couch.

With a calm he didn’t feel, Logan
looked her right in the eye, trying to hold onto his control. “You need to hear
me out.”

“I don’t
need
to do
anything.” She argued, crossing her arms over her chest in a very defensive
stance.

“But, I
need
to explain.”
He reworded his intentions. Standing before him, Sam looked determined, yet
vulnerable at the same time.

It pained him to know he was the
cause for all of her anger, her hurt. She’d had hours to conjure up images that
just weren’t real. If he’d followed her earlier in the day when he wanted to,
she wouldn’t have had time to think about worst case scenarios all day.

“Logan,” Sam lowered her voice,
finally looking him in the eye, “I don’t
want
any explanations. I get
it.”

Infuriation bubbled deep, forcing
the calm he had reached for to be absorbed until his hands tingled with the
anger he could feel rising up. The hard headed woman wouldn’t listen to reason,
making up her mind without giving him a chance to explain. The self-control he
prided himself on dissolved.